How To Change Your Life By Defining Your Perfect Day

Are you – right now – living the life you dreamed, being the person you want to be, doing what you always wanted to do? Do you believe you can really change your life?

The sad fact is that many of us aren’t living our dream life. We don’t have a clue what we really want and we don’t know how to change our life for the better. We look at other people who are successful, happy or doing amazing things with their lives and wonder what their secret is.

Are they special or lucky to get a break like that we wonder as we go back to our mundane 9-5 existence and put up with a job we hate just because it pays the bills?

The truth is we are all unique and we all have something special to share with the world. We all deserve to live a life that is filled with joy and excitement.

But if you want to change your life and move from living a life of quiet desperation to one that is joyful and exciting then wishing and wanting will not get you very far.

You have to start defining what you really want.

This is easier said than done.

It’s a question that often trips up my clients during our coaching sessions and it’s not surprising when you think about the millions of choices we face every day. In our consumerist society sometimes having too much can stop you from seeing what’s really important.

It can be hard figuring out what makes you tick and which path to take to really change your life.

That’s why I want to share a very simple exercise with you.

It’s based on imagining your perfect day and is a technique I learned from Chris Guillebeau. I keep coming back to it every year to help me take my life to the next level. It might help you get some answers on how to change your life too.

Change Your Life With The Perfect Day

Before I share this technique I want to ask you to promise me something – promise that you won’t rush the exercise. Block out a couple of hours, grab a pen and paper and get comfortable.

Don’t worry, this exercise is not hard. In fact it’s really fun! But you need to spend a couple of hours on it to do it justice. Although it is extremely simple the perfect day exercise is very powerful.

It is not the same as creating a vision board. But when combined, these two activities are a potent way to get clear on what you want and what you don’t want.

I think many people will find it easier to relate to the perfect day exercise because instead of thinking about your life purpose, which can seem nebulous, you can picture your ideal day.

Sit in a chair, take a few deep breaths and close your eyes. Imagine that you are living your perfect day right now. Visualize yourself going through your entire day – hour by hour – from the moment you wake up, take a shower, have breakfast, go about your daily activities to the moment you go to sleep.

Then open your eyes and write out in great detail how you’ve just imagined your perfect day.

Use These Questions As Prompts

Where are you living?

What does your home look like?

What time in the morning are you waking up?

Who is lying next to you?

What are you eating for breakfast?

How do you spend your morning?

Do you work out? What kind of sports or hobbies do you enjoy doing?

Do you have children? How old are they? What do they look like?

What kind of food do you like to eat for lunch? Who is sitting at the table with you?

What kinds of people do you call your friends?

What kind of conversations do you have with them?

What kind of work do you do? How successful is your business?

What time do you start work?

How many hours do you work each day or week?

Do you sell products or services – or both? What does this look like?

What are your clients like? How much are they paying you?

What’s your relationship like with your partner or spouse and your family?

How do you spend family time together?

What do you eat for dinner? Where do you have dinner?

What do you talk about at dinner? Who else is there?

What kind of clothes are you wearing?

How do you spend your evening?

Who do you spend your time with?

What are your last thoughts before you fall asleep?

Small Shifts Can Change Your Life

The second part to this exercise is to start making changes to your life so you are living in a way that is one step closer to the perfect day you’ve just designed for yourself.

You may not be able to afford your dream home right now but you can get up an hour earlier to work on your business, do 30 minutes of yoga or kettle bells each day to get in shape, or spend more quality time with your family.

The more you introduce aspects from the perfect day exercise into your current life the quicker you will manifest the life you’ve designed. Along the way you may learn things about yourself that you weren’t aware of. You will also start to make better, more conscious decisions about how to spend your time and what to focus on.

Final Words

I was amazed by the revelations I got when I first did this exercise.

By defining my perfect day, I was able to give myself permission to imagine the very best life. I was able to get clear on what mattered most to me, discover how I truly wanted to live my life and determine the goals I needed to pursue to move closer to the kind of future I wanted.

In fact, each time I’ve done this exercise, I’ve gained more and more insights. It’s also helped me make significant changes to my life – from leaving a job I disliked to setting up a lifestyle business online, attracting the type of clients I want to work with and creating a plan to move to the place I want to live.

On an emotional level, defining my perfect day has galvanized me into action and kept me motivated when things have gone wrong. It’s made it easier to say no to people and things that aren’t aligned with my new exciting life plan.

Taking the time to define your perfect day can also spark an unstoppable passion and new-found happiness in you.

At the very least it will get you thinking about the kind of life you could have and the one you deserve. So don’t sell yourself short. Put the effort into discovering what lights you up inside and then start taking small steps to make it a reality.

What About You?

Do you think it’s possible to change your life using the perfect day exercise? How do you keep yourself focused and motivated towards achieving your goals? Please share your tips and comments below.

Comments

What a fabulously inspiring post! Thank you Tehmina, I’m going to do this and see where it takes me. I am already living a dream my husband and I had 3 years ago, now we’re consolidating it and looking at more inspirations for fully living now, rather than waiting for that magic ‘retirement’ age when it could be too late!
Sandra 🙂

Thanks for stopping by again Sandra, yes I really recommend the exercises. It’s wonderful to hear you are living your dream already but still looking at ways to live more expansively. People like you inspire me 🙂 Tehmina

Hello Tehmina, I love this post:) It is very inspiring. I work a job that makes hardly any money, I have been to nursing school, and graduated with honors, but i have failed the state exam three times. I have completed a vision board last year, and it helps me see what some of my passions are, but i just get stuck, and dont know where to start. I am going to try your exercise and see what happens.

Thanks for your kind words Denise. Yes I urge you to do the Perfect Day exercise because working with the end in mind is the first step. It will clarify a lot about what you want and the kind of business you need to build to allow you to live that life. You don’t need to know all the steps in between as I will be covering them in future blog posts. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out. Best wishes Tehmina

I am trying real hard to change my life, but its hard. Thanks for your post, it helps. I am scared to be honest with you and not having any friends still doesn’t make it rebuilding any easier. (If you want to read about how it is going, I am writing a blog about it at http://rebuildingat30.blogspot.com )

Hello Joe, thank you for reaching out. I have left a longer comment on your blog but wanted to urge you to start with one area of your life. We never know how strong we really are until we have to be, and as you take positive steps to move your life forward you will find the energy and encouragement to continue. I went through a similar crisis point over 10 years ago, so am living proof that change can happen. Imagine your life in 1 year, 5 years and even 10 years time and put the steps in place to achieve it. Sending you love and light x Tehmina

You can change your life in just a day or in just one click, it is a long process. It is just a matter of decision. You can change your whole life, you’re not a tree. First and for most, you could list the things you want to change and how you should change it.